touchless drive thru wash question.

**quebert** · 12-28-2019, 01:12 AM

I know this will probably vary from state to state, maybe even city to city. But my friend loves the touchless washes around here, and all 3 of them appear use the same products. Which I believe are Kleen Rite. She generally pays for the top level wash. The final stage is some sort of protection, I can`t recall what they call it. It smells really fruity, and I`m assuming it`s multiple products because it shoots out foam that`s like 3-4 very different colors. 2 of the 3 gas stations for laughs I asked the cashiers if they knew the name of the product. Of course none of them had a clue. I want to find it`s name so I can look it up. I`m curious what it is and what it actually does. I know it add`s $4 to the wash and it winds up taking a lot longer. I`m not convinced it`s doing anything what-so-ever. So I`m trying to save her money, but of course she said I don`t know what I`m talking about. Which um, she`s not wrong here lol. I want to know what this damn protection consists of so I can either educate her or educate myself. I poked around on Kleen Rite`s site but found nothing useful.

**SWETM** · 12-28-2019, 11:59 AM

Google tripple foam polish. Seems to be coming in different colors. It`s low ph high pressure car soap with carnuaba wax in it. Then it can be finished with a drying agent wich is common as a last step before blowdry. Think that it`s not a long lived protection. But if you washing every week maybe you have some protection from it. Some uses the cheap silicone that`s water activated instead of the ones with SiO2 base that`s activated by the pressure. This is also a difference between the spray on rinse off products. Gyeon Wet Coat and Carpro Hydro2 and Tac System Hydro Glass is as far as I know pressure activated and spread by the water. McKees 37 Hydro Blue Nick mentioned it`s water activated. Pressure activated usually has the recommendation that you rinse it off with a PW or a strong water pressure from the hose. Then there are some glossenhancers that`s easy to rinse off too that you usually have in car soaps also. A higher concentration of these and done often. Can get you a nasty build up that`s simualar to when you waxing too often and is it called wax haze or something like that. Gunks up the polishing pads if you are not able to be removing it before the polishing. This can happen when it`s something wrong with the blowdrying and the rinse wax/drying agent dries on the paint. Or if the touchless wash just don`t have a strong enough blowdryer or save on the electricity and setting it on lower power. It`s usually not any good at beading but can have a good sheeting a couple of days until it has attracted dirt build up again LOL.

**GearHead_1** · 12-28-2019, 03:16 PM

I felt like I “HAD” to drive through a touchless wash about 10 days ago. It’s just been too cold for these arthritic hands. The last step in the process is the part I have issues with. They always apply some time of weak sealant. These washes simply don’t do a good enough job washing to be applying any type of sealant.

Since I hadn’t been through one of these washes in more than a decade I didn’t really know what to expect. Now that I know, if I were to do it again, I would throw a bucket of soapy water in the back of my vehicle and a few wash mitts. My buckets have nice O-Ring seals and lids. I’d drive through but I think when it gets to the point where the arms stall as it’s changing formula’s/steps, I’d just drive out leaving the sealing and drying stages out of the process. I’d then go out in the lot and do a quick once over with the mitts and water that I’d brought and then go through the wash one more time and let it finish the whole process. This is hardly Autopian standards but sometimes I just want to get the salt off.

**quebert** · 12-29-2019, 05:33 AM

Originally Posted by SWETM

Google tripple foam polish. Seems to be coming in different colors. It`s low ph high pressure car soap with carnuaba wax in it. Then it can be finished with a drying agent wich is common as a last step before blowdry. Think that it`s not a long lived protection. But if you washing every week maybe you have some protection from it. Some uses the cheap silicone that`s water activated instead of the ones with SiO2 base that`s activated by the pressure. This is also a difference between the spray on rinse off products. Gyeon Wet Coat and Carpro Hydro2 and Tac System Hydro Glass is as far as I know pressure activated and spread by the water. McKees 37 Hydro Blue Nick mentioned it`s water activated. Pressure activated usually has the recommendation that you rinse it off with a PW or a strong water pressure from the hose. Then there are some glossenhancers that`s easy to rinse off too that you usually have in car soaps also. A higher concentration of these and done often. Can get you a nasty build up that`s simualar to when you waxing too often and is it called wax haze or something like that. Gunks up the polishing pads if you are not able to be removing it before the polishing. This can happen when it`s something wrong with the blowdrying and the rinse wax/drying agent dries on the paint. Or if the touchless wash just don`t have a strong enough blowdryer or save on the electricity and setting it on lower power. It`s usually not any good at beading but can have a good sheeting a couple of days until it has attracted dirt build up again LOL.

BINGO thank you! I Googled and those 3 seem pretty similar, colors match up so that`s probably the combo. Foaming polish sounds, odd but that`s what they call them. I think it`s a pointless $4 upgrade as the wash portion as GearHead_1 mentioned is only okay. I mean for it being completely touchless and only taking 2-3 minutes I guess it`s not horrible, but it does leave a a decent amount of junk behind on the paint. I suspect even with it using all 3 of these foaming polishes the protection left behind will be little to none.

**skibik** · 12-30-2019, 02:41 PM

The touchless here uses Rain-X brand I think it or what it says on the board. I think it says what was mentioned as being triple action polish and protection or coating. I don`t wash the truck very often(it`s a truck right !!!) but have tried the premium that adds that but I don`t think it offers much protection.

**Desertnate** · 12-30-2019, 05:01 PM

Regardless of what is being used I wouldn`t count on it offering much protection.

Around here the places don`t actually advertise any brand of product, for better or worse. Fortunately, my favorite winter touchless place offers the under body and wheel spray with the mid-level wash so I don`t have to deal with the "polish" or "wax" offered in the top package. Most places require you to get the full treatment in order to get the under body spray.

**John U** · 12-30-2019, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by GearHead_1

I felt like I “HAD” to drive through a touchless wash about 10 days ago. It’s just been too cold for these arthritic hands.
Since I hadn’t been through one of these washes in more than a decade I didn’t really know what to expect. Now that I know, if I were to do it again, I would throw a bucket of soapy water in the back of my vehicle and a few wash mitts. My buckets have nice O-Ring seals and lids. I’d drive through but I think when it gets to the point where the arms stall as it’s changing formula’s/steps, I’d just drive out leaving the sealing and drying stages out of the process. I’d then go out in the lot and do a quick once over with the mitts and water that I’d brought and then go through the wash one more time and let it finish the whole process. This is hardly Autopian standards but sometimes I just want to get the salt off.

I was in the same position recently heading to a warmer location. It pained me to see the ```` hanging off the vehicle and it was the first time in 7 years the chrome wheels were in salt. I took the hotel ice bucket with water and a wash cloth out to the parking lot and pre-washed the wheels. I then drove across the street to the wet spinning cloth wash. The guys at the end wiping it off tossed me a couple of towels for me to finish wiping off drips out by the vacuums.

**Lonnie** · 01-03-2020, 09:39 AM

Two aspects about touchless car washes:
1) They do not remove de-icing road binders (AKA beet juice) and that requires a physical/mechanical removal of that road traffic film (RTF). This is a reason many Autopians will do a rinse-less wash AT HOME after going though a touchless car wash. It also allows them to clean out the door jams and rear hatch/trunk jam that touchless car washes do not get to.
For myself, I bring my microfiber drying towels (Griot`s Garage PFM 16 x 16 inch, because they are smaller and easier to handle) and wipe off my car at the car wash to really dry it and get at the door jams. Yes, my towels get dirty. Yes, I induce scratches/swirls in the paint (I`ll deal with that in warmer spring weather). My reasons for doing so is this:
a) Don`t have a heated garage to do a rinseless wash.
b) Ambient outside temps are usually 20°F or colder, so water freezes rather quickly, and it is just easier to remove the excess water at the car wash.
c) Removing the water in the jams prevents having a door or hatch/truck lid from freezing shut. (Yes, it does happen rather fast in below 0°F temps. And, yes, it is WHY many cold-weather Autopians wax/seal/coat the jams and use protectant on the seals).

2) Does your car wash use recycled water? If you live in the desert southwest or southern California and you have water restrictions in your area, it may require car washes to use recycled water to save on using water. MOST car washes do not, but if you are washing with just filtered recycled water, that water may not be totally clean of car wash chemicals or environmental RTFs. Then again, you probably are not dealing with de-cing road salt in those areas anyway!

As far as tunnel car wash chemical manufacturers, there are a plethora of them, just like detailing car-care chemical manufacturers. Some of them are familiar, like Chemical Guys. There is a reason they sell these chemicals in 55 gallon drums.
My area (Green Bay/De Pere WI) has two car wash chemical manufacturers: R Lewis Technologies (a spin-off from PDQ car wash) and Blue Dolphin.

Which of these many manufacturers has "better" chemicals? That`s the question for this topic.

I would definitely ask a tunnel car wash who makes their chemicals that they use. MOST tunnel washes have the name that chemical manufacturer prominently displayed in their signage, as this is a selling/advertising point for using their car wash (We proudly use "Brand-X" for a better wash!)

As a side note: if anyone sees the Simonize name at the car washes in their area, let me know. It`s more a question of curiosity.